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ADDRESS 



DELrVERfiD BEFORE THB 



TWO LITERARY SOCIETIES 



0f Uoill Carflliiia, 



MAY 31st, 1854, 



HON. AARON V. BROWN, 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE PHILANTHROPIC aOCIETT. 



RALEIGH, N. C: 
I'UBLISHED BY WILLIAM C. DOUB. 

1854. 



Philanthropic Hall, Chapel Hill, N. C, June 1st, 1854, 
SiK : — The undersigned have been appointe'd a committee in behalf of 
the Philanthropic Society, to express to you the very great pleasure and 
gratification they realized on the delivery of your peculiarly interesting and 
appropriate address before the two Literary Societies of the University ou 
yesterday; and solicit a copy of the same for publication. 

In performing this agreeable duty, the committee are desirous of tendering 
their individual thanks, and adding their personal solicitations to those of 
the body they represent. 

Yours most respectfully, 

C. W. YELLOWLEY, 
A. B. IRION, 
A. B. HILL. 
To Gov. A. V. Browk. 



Raleigh, N. C, Jane 2nd, 1854. 
Gentlemen: — I fear that you, as well as the society you represent, over- 
estimate the address, a copy of which you request for publication. It 
was prepared in haste, amid the frequent interruptions of private pursuits, 
and will be found on perusal, trite in its subjects and devoid of that interest, 
which the exciting scenes transpiring on the day of its delivery, doubtless 
conspired to give it. I submit it however to your better disci'eticn, with 
my sincerest thanks to you and to the society Avhich you represent, for tka 
favorable opinion of it which you have been pleased to express. 
A^ery sincerely, yours &c., 

AARON V, BROWN. 
To Messrs, C. W. 1'ellowlev, 

A. B. Ikion, )■ CommiUee, dc 

A. B. Hill. 



OeNTLEMEN Of THE PHILANTHROPIC AND DIALECTIC SOCIETIES : 

After an absence of just forty years I return to these ancieni 
and consecrated halls : I return upon your kind invitation, hero 
to oSer up on the altars of my early worship, renevred vows of 
devotion and gratitude, to that alma-mater, who in the days oi 
my youth carried me in her arms and folded me to her bosom- 
During this long pilgrimage I have seen and felt enough to 
render this sentiment of homage and respect both profound and 
indelible. Wherever I have been, I have seen no success crown 
the efforts of her alumni, and no public honors conferred upon 
them, which might not be fairly attributed to their early disci- 
pline in this Institution, and her two Literary Societies. It was 
here that the foundation was laid for a sound, thorough and 
practical education. It was here that they were taught to 
redeem every moment of their time — to put temptation at defi- 
ance — to scorn the degradations of vice — to watch, like tluj 
eagle, for every opportunity of improvement, and when discov- 
ered, however high or far off, like that noble bird, to fly upward 
to it. 

Their eminent success in every profession and pursuit in life, 
ought to remove every doubt which at any time may have crossed 
your minds, as to the Institution you have selected. You have 
heard much of Princeton, of Yale and Harvard, and in moments 
of gloom and despondence you may have doubted, whether somo 
one of these would not have been better, or might not have 
opened to you an easier or more certain passport to the honors and 
emoluments of life. The Presidential mansion, the Halls of botii 
Houses of Congress, the courts and legislatures of half the State^i 
of the Union, all unite iii quieting every such apprelieusiou. 



6 

Wherever the graduates of this Institution have come in collis- 
ion with those of other Colleges and Universities, they have 
never retired ingloriously from the conflict . In the arts and 
sciences they have yielded nothing on the score of genius and 
talents. At the Bar and on the Bench they have exhibited a 
learning as varied, profound and accui ate. In the Senate Cham- 
ber they have displayed an eloquence as lofty and a patriotism 
as heroic. On the battle-fields of liberty, their swords have 
gleamed as brightly, and their war-plumes waved as proudly, and 
when the conflict was ended they have returned wi*h laurels as 
green and unfading as ever decked the brow of the soldier. 

Be then content with Chapel Hill. Walk amid her groves and 
breathe the pure atmosphere of lier almost mountain elevation. 
If you would be daily inspired with fresh devotion to learning 
and piety, here you can visit the tomb of Caldwell, the noble 
founder of the University, and for more than a quarter of a 
century its brightest ornament. If you would kindle up in your 
bosoms the patriotic fires of the revolution, look out to the west, 
where you can almost behold the battle grounds of Guilford and 
King's Mountain. Nearly in the same range of vision, lies good 
old Mecklenburg, who threw down the first defiance to Britisli 
power, and first proclaimed American Independence. Turn your 
eyes now to yonder eastern summit. There you can look down 
upon the plain, that stretches off in the distance as far as York- 
town, where the last great battle was fought, and where the 
American Eagle uttered her loudest notes of triumph and exul- 
tation. Surrounded on every side by holy and consecrated 
memorials like these, who is not compelled to exclaim "this is 
the place" — the very place beyond all others, Avhere the altars 
of learning, piety and patriotism should have been erected. 

There is, however, another doubt which more frequently comes 
darkling over the mind of the desponding student. Secluded 
from the world, trimming •with nervous hand, his midnight lamp 
in his lonely dormitory, lie is oftentimes tempted to ask, why all 
this toil and labor ? what good does education bring to its anxious 
votaries, to compensate them for so many privations in its acqui- 
sition? Whether this question be asked under the pressure of 
exhausted nature, or from the suggestion of an indolent lassitude 



wblcli shrinks from exertion of ever j description, its infiaence is 
too paralyzing to be passed over in silence. "What good does 
Education do ?" What good, miglit be asked, is there in being a 
man, in all the proportions of dignity and power, instead of the 
mere dwarf, ^yho, if not too insignificant io invite, is certainly 
too feeble to resist aggression. Bnt what good is there in phys- 
ical manhood of the most athletic proportions, without a mind, 
a spirit, a soul to animate, to elevate, to assimilate to its own 
divine origm and destination. 

But this question is not commonly propounded in a sense so 
startling to the intelligence of the 19th century. It is intended 
as an enquiry into the value of Collegiate Education over that 
of self-made man, who often rises to the highest pinnacle of 
fame by the vigorous exercise of his own native talents. Our 
argument does not maintain that Education can only be had in 
Universities and Colleges, but only, that it must come from some- 
where. It may come from the field, in the intervals of rest 
from the severe toils of the husbandman. It may come from 
the wortshop of the mechanic, in nightly meditations, when 
others have given themselves up to inglorious repose. It may 
come to those who have slighted their opportunities at College, 
under the^ very delusion we are now considering, but who, on 
discovering the infinite error which they have committed, retire 
with eagerness to the chambers of private study, and by redoubled 
efforts atone for their former indolence. Franklin did indeed 
snatch the lightning from the heavens, and Morse sent it flash- 
ing round the world, speaking the language of every nation and 
giving utterance to every thought and sentiment of the human 
family. But not until they were educated — well and soundly 
educated — not in the College but out of the College. '' Count 
liumford did not stand pre-eminent among the Philosophers of 
Europe, nor did West become President of the Royal Academy 
at London, until they had passed through a long and severe dis- 
cipline of reading, reflection and observation. What enabled 
Whitney to invent the Cotton Gin, now giving more than one 
hundred millions to the annual products of our country ? Wher.ce 
f*prang that beautiful and complicated machinery of Arkwriglit 
for spinning and of Cart\vright for weaving this vast product, 



8 

thereby doubling it in value, and greatly diminishing the expense 
of clothing a large portion of the human family ?" These inven- 
tions were not the result of untutored ignorance, blindly blun- 
dering upon them by accident : hut of Education ; not general 
Education, it is true, sweeping the whole horizon of the arts and 
sciences, but Education, mental exercise and discipline, in one 
especial and particular pursuit. But surely it cannot be neces- 
sary to press an argument in' favor of Education beyond \i6 
own obvious advantages. Society has settled the question. Tho 
vast machinery of (Jniversities, Colleges, Academies and com- 
mon schools which she has set in motion — the throng of intel- 
lectual and ingenuous youth who crowd tho portals of these 
institutions — the sighs and regrets of all who have never enjoyed 
such opportunities — the universal homage and respect paid to 
educated men, and the indelible impress made by them on all 
public affairs — and above all, the wonderful and almost magical 
progress and improvement of our country under these educa- 
tional influences and appliances, all demonstrate that this ques- 
tion of "what good," is settled, conclusively and finally settled. 
There is yet another class of desponding students, to whoso 
fears and apprehensions we would address ourselves on the pres- 
ent occasion. These admit the inestimable value of learning, 
and are exerting every faculty of body and mind to acquire it, 
yet the preparation is so tedious and their progress apparently 
so slow, that they sometimes apprehend that they may be too 
late in entering on the theatre of life — that the golden moment 
may have passed — that all the avenues to wealth and fame may 
be preoccupied by others, and that at last they may fail of that 
success to which so much toil and labor would seem fairly to 
entitle them. This, gentlemen, brings me to the distinctive 
subject Avhich I have selected for our communion on the present 
occasion. To exhibit (very briefly of course) such a view of the 
United States — its progress in government — in territory — in its 
multiplied and daily increasing pursuits and employments, us 
may have a tendency to inspire young men just entering into 
iife, with encouraging hopes and confidence of success. 



9 



TIE mitm if A«i, 

Its Progress and Improvement in Government — in Tbrsi- 
TORY — IN ITS Industrial Employments — Its ScxEntifiq 
AND Professional Pursuits. 



The history of the United States, its discovery, settlement 
and general progress, is but a succession of wonderful events, 
romantic as anything to be found in the gorgeous stories of Ara- 
bian fiction. Tliat there should have been ani/ United States 
at all, is a preliminary wonder that challenges and confounds 
all ordinary calculations. Where else is it recorded as a reality 
in hum'jn affairs, that a mere handful of men have been collected 
in haste and disorder as at Lexington and C jncord, and a revo- 
lution commenced so grand in its operations and so sublime in 
its results ? Without prc-efctablisled cor.nettion between the 
colonies — without a ship on the ocean — without a soldier in the 
field — without a dollar of revenue in their coffers, they bade 
defiance to the oldest and strongest civilized nation in the world ! 
They were impelled to the perilous deed, by no sudden or brutal 
outrage such as drove a Tarquin from the Roman throne — by no 
warlike invasion of their homes and altars, such as Grecian 
valor Avas called upon to resist, on the plains of Marathon, or 
the mountain passes of Thermopylae ! It was the im-position of 
a mere paltry taxation, neither enormous in amount, nor flagi- 
tious in the mode of its collection. Looking at this as the real 
cause, it would have been better, far better for our ancestors to 
have paid the duties on a few pieces of stamped paper, or on a 
few boxes of tea, than to have plunged into a war, so protracted, 
expensive and bloody. But the noble actors in the soul-stirring 
scenes of that day, looked far beyond these ostensible and incon- 
siderable provocations. They knew and felt ! heaven inspired 
them to know and feel, that the hour had come when they should 
build up an independent Empire in the nevv' world ; an Empire 
wherein the civil and religious liberties of themselves and their 
posterity should be secured and established forever. Under- 
standing the magnitude of the work, they dedicated to it, " their- 



10 

lives, their fortunes and their sacred honors." All else was 
abandoned. The implements of husbandry were left rusting in 
the field — the ring of the anvil was no longer heard, saA'e in the 
manufacture of some rude instrument of war — churches dedi- 
cated to the Most High were deserted, with no one to minister 
at their altars — the school houses and the colleges were shut up, 
and both teacher and scholar hastened to the tented field. 
Long and dubious was the conflict ; when driven from the plains, 
they took refuge in the mountains ; the rocks and the hills 
became their castles of defence. Sometimes buried in snows — 
often wasted with disease and threatened with famine. When 
compelled to retreat from province to province, the enemy would 
follow them, by the blood trickling from the feet of then bare- 
footed soldiery. Patiently they suffered every privation, and 
heroically they fought whenever opportunity furnished the faint- 
est hope of success, until at last the struggle was ende.l in a 
blaze of glory on the plains of Yorktown ! Full as this subject 
is of national and individual exultation, it is adverted to hereto 
remind the young men of the present generation of the immense 
advantages they enjoy in entering upon life with our national 
liberties firmly established. You have to go through no seven 
years Avar in order to establish wise and salutary institutions, 
under which you might hope to be happy and prosperous. Why, 
seven years is neai'ly the third part of the active and busy man- 
hood of life ! now thanks to our noble ancestors every thing is 
prepared ready for our advent. The tree of liberty planted by 
their valor and watered by their blood, has put forth its branches 
far arnd wide, and we have nothing to do but to walk beneath its 
shade, and gather the rich fruits that cluster on its boughs. 

The fortunate and brilliant termination of the war was not, 
however, the completion of that Republican organization for 
which it was mainly commenced. Temporary and provisional 
arrangements had indeed been made, but the great Temple had 
not yet been built. The Revolution had only prepared its foun- 
dation — vast, solid and permanent. The same skillful workmen 
who laid the foundation were summoned to erect the superstruc- 
ture. Washington, Franklin, Jefferson and Madison came. Ham- 
ilton, Roger Sherman, Rutlcdge and the Pinckneys were there. 



u 

They came fresh from the scenes of the Revolution, with all the 
hopes and inspirations of that great event. They looked far 
backward into the history of man, and scrutinized every form 
of government that had ever been established. They looked 
forward, also, into the distant future as far as mortal vision i,s 
allowed to penetrate. A long succession of ages passed in dim 
and shadowy review before them. They saw the millions who 
were to be the future irihab'tunts of this vast Continent. They 
gazed with wonder on its lakes and bays and harbors — on its 
mountains and rivers and luxuriant vallies, until Avrapped and 
inspired by the prophetic vision, they conceived the great design 
and plan of our present happy form of government. Its adop- 
tion constitutes the grandest epoch in the science of govern- 
ment. It was then that man recovered his long lost birthright 
of self-government, and trampled beneath his feet the odious 
doctrine that the Kings of the earth had a divine right to gov- 
ern him, and that it was rebellion against Heaven to resist their 
oppressions. 

The present is no fit occasion for a disquisition on the Consti- 
tution so adopted — to analyze its proportions — to decide whether 
it established a National or Federative Republic — whether sov- 
reignty resides in the people of the United States as one aggre- 
gate whole, or in the people of the respective States in their 
confederate character. To none of these vexed and subtle 
questions do we now address ourselves, but invoke your attention 
to the great fact, that so far, it has eminently secured to the 
people the disideratum required — a sound, healthy and prosper- 
ous system of self-government. The great problem has been 
solved, that man — civilized, educated, moral man — can govern 
himself, dispensing with the whole system of heredatary mon- 
archy, with its attendant orders of nobility. So complete and 
undeniable has been the solution of that problem that it ha? 
given rise to another: whether those who formed our State and 
Federal Consritutions did not underrate the capacity of the 
people for self-government. The question is noAv being asked, 
why were the people not permitted to elect the President by 
their own direct action, without invoking the agency of an Elec- 
toral College? Why they were not permitted to elect the twc 



12 

Senators who are to represent their State sovereignty in the 
Congress of the United States ? If that sovereignty be in them, 
why the employment of the subordinate agency of the Legisla- 
ture? So, of the Judges, State and Federal, who are to sit in 
judgment on their lives, liberties and fortunes. These and sim- 
ilar questions are now presenting themselves in the progress of 
future constitutional reform. We barely state them with the 
remark, that however they may be settled, no decision which may 
be made can detract from that eternal debt of gmtitude and honor 
which we owe to the patriots and statesmen who framed our 
State and Eedoral Constitutions. Trained and disciplined as 
the American people have been, by general education — by the 
public press, and by the information annually flowing out from 
the Legislatures of the different States, and from the halls of 
Congress, it would be no matter of vronder if they were now 
prepared to venture still nearer to the forms and principles of a 
pure and perfect self-government. The experience of the past 
should repress all apprehension as to what is to be the decision 
on any or all of these questions.' The people of the United 
States are fully competent to decide them w^isely, as well as all 
other political questions which the emergency of the times may 
make necessary. He who has a hearty reliance on the great 
popular basis on vrhich our government is founded, should never 
indulge in mournful anticipations of the future. "The gallant 
mariner does not pale before each gathering cloud, nor tremble 
Avhen he hears the howling tempest. He knows his ship and that 
its sturdy sides can stand the dashing w<:.ves and ride in triumph 
the agitated waters." Not so Avitli the timid and distiustful 
statesman. He can see danger in every change, and tr:mble 
with awe at the very thought of progress and improvement ! 

Under the benign inllusnces of tliat form of government 
which wohaA'c just been considering, the United States has made 
the most wonderful progress in the acquisition of territory and 
in the accession of States to the Union. At first not one of the 
old Thirteen wdiich achieved our independence, extended in its 
effective organization much beyond the range of our eastern 
mountains. It was not long, however, before new States began 
to vise like exhalations from the rich soil and genial climate of 



13 

t&e Mississippi Valley. That great River, however, interposed 
its barrier to all further expansion in that direction. All beyond 
it belonged to the crown of Spain. The English Government, 
cither from exasperation for the recent loss of her colonies, or 
from that passion for distant possessions which is yet displayed 
in India, resolved to acquire that portion of our Continent. 
Napoleon saw the movement, and to foil and baffle his great ene- 
my, exerted his preponderating influence with the court of Spain 
and procured it for himself. Soon afterward, by a fortunate 
negotiation, Mr. Jeifersou acijuired it by treaty for the United 
States. 

Here was another event in our political history almost marvel- 
lous, and scarcely less important than our Independence itself. 
Louisiana extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the great Lakes of 
the North. Its base was the Father of "Waters from its mouth 
with all its meanders, to its very head fountains. If the transfer 
to England had not been prevented, what disastrous and b1io-ht- 
ing influence must it not have exerted on the future destinies of 
the Republic ? Where now are Iowa, Missouri, i^ rkansas and 
Louisiana, would have been large and powerful provinces belong- 
ing to Great Britain. Her large cities might have grown up on 
the site of St. Louis, or opposite Cairo, to Memphis and to 
Natchez. Even New Orleans would have been hers, and the 
mouth of the most magnificent River on the Continent, if not iii 
the world, would have been in her possession. A line of impreo-- 
nable fortifications, bristling with artillery, might have been 
everywhere directed against us. AYith her possessions in C nada 
on the North, with such as we are now considering on the West, 
and her Islands on our Eastern coast, the United States would 
have been environed on all sides, and we should have felt and 
known that our freedom w£.s but a delusion, and that the battles 
for independence were only begun, not ended. Well mio-ht Mr. 
Jefferson designate the West as his favorite country, and lone 
should that West offer up to his memory the homage of its admi- 
ration and gratitude. Having crossed the Mississippi, the march 
of Empire was still westward and onward. It passed over thv 
Sabine in the annexation of Texas. It precipitated itself 
beyond the Del Norte, in the acquisition of California, and 



14 

ecaling the Rocky Mountains, could only find its termination on 
the distant shores of the Pacific. What a magnificent country 
for the future abode of the sons and daughters of Freedom ! Ic 
offers to them every soil and climate and production. It opena 
•ivide the door of welcome admission into every occupation and 
profession, and guarantees to a life of sobriety, industry and 
energy, the surest and most eminent success. 

But the progress of the Uoited States in territorial expansion 
has not been more wonderful than the various means which sci- 
ence has invented to obviate the inconvenience of her increasing 
magnitude. Although as large as the Empire of Rome or that 
of Alexander, and nearly three times as large as that of France 
and Great Britain combined, the inventions and improvements of 
the age have practically compressed her within the dimensions of 
most ordinary nations. 

Her telegraphic instructions can be transmitted in a few mo- 
ments to her most distant agents. From his head-quarters at 
Washington, her commanding General, with the rapidity of 
thought, can give his orders to his army to advance at once on 
an invading enemy. In the world of commerce and business, 
correspondence flics on the Avings of the lightning, and both 
principals and factors, tliough widely separated, understand each 
other as if they were inhabitants of the same city. In the art^ 
and sciences, every new idea that may become practically useful, 
Is conveyed at once to the mechanic, the operative and the man- 
ufacturer. In the hgal profession no new principle is adjudica- 
ted, and in the medical, no new antidote is discovered to stay 
the sweeping and desolating scourge, which is not promulgated 
almost in the twinkling of an eye to the remotest corners of 
the Republic. 

If to the Telegraph we add the facilities of the Railroad, 
penetrating every valley, and of the Steamboat, navigating all 
our Lakes and Bays and Rivers, we are compelled to ahaudou 
every apprehension of danger from great expansion. May no 
t-'enuine son of Liberty ever desire it to be less. America may 
be the last asylum of Freedom to the down-trodden and oppressed 
millions of mankind. Let her have scope and verge enough for 
all who understand and revere her principles and implore tho 



Id 

protection of her Eagles. We started witV only thirteen : T^e 
now have thirty-one States. Why may we not at some future 
day have fifty or one hundred States, all moving like the con- 
stellations of Heaven around the Constitution as their common 
center ! That Constitution was ordained and established for 
the express purpose of expansibility and progress. It provided 
expressly for the admission of new States without number, but 
consecrated the word Equality, for their eternal welfare and 
preservation. Equality of rights amongst the States — Equality 
of rights amongst the millions of individuals who are to live 
under it. Equality ! that great word — unknown to the Consti- 
tution of any other nation in the world — scoffed at by the titled 
nobility of other lands — derided by the wealthy, proud and 
insolent, but here made the foundation of a new social and polit- 
ical system, better securing the civil rights and religious privile- 
ges of mankind. Save to us this one word. Equality, and adhere 
faithfully to a strict construction of the Constitution, and the 
execution of it according to its plain and obvious import, and 
^ve have nothing to apprehend from the wide and growing expan- 
sion of our country. No matter how many States may compose 
it — no matter how diversified their climates, soil and produc- 
tions — no matter where may be the preponderance of popula- 
tion, nor to what region the sceptre of power may be transfer- 
red, give to all, both States and people, their just and equal 
rights, with the proper means to understand and defend them, 
and this Government will prove to be the greatest boon ever 
conferred on the human family. 

Let us now turn to the contemplation of our country in her 
progress in those industrial and professional pursuits into which 
your preparations here are mainly intended to introduce you. 
Foremost of all the pursuits of man stands agriculture. It was 
the original and natural employment of our race. The Patri- 
archs were successful cultivators of the earth. Among the 
Romans the proudest patrician thought it no disgrace to live on 
his farm and cultivate it with his own hands. Cinciiinatus was 
called from the plough to save his country, and having accom- 
plished the great work, resigned the Dictatorship and hastened 
back to his labors in the field. It is not only the most ancient 



16 

(employment, but its necessity and usefulness, are the greatest* 
It is, in fact, the foundation of all others. There can be no 
commerce, no manufactures, and, indeed, no subsistence without 
it. In the expressive hmguage of an old adage, "it makes all, 
pays all, and supports all." But although it is the substratum 
of all the other pursuits, it has always been the most neglected. 
A very high degree of education has been considered necessary 
to those who intended to betake themselves to the learned pro- 
fessions. Some preparation was thought necessary to success in 
commerce, manufactures and the mechanic arts, but in agricul- 
ture, no apprenticeship, no degree of instruction seems to have 
been thought at all important* Men were to be educated 
to other things, but they were to be born farmers. How to 
foUoAV the plough and to handle the axe and the scythe Avas to 
be the sum total of the qualifications for the noblest, the most 
virtuous and the happiest occupation of man. 

Happily for our country, hoAvever, these rude notions have 
been rapidly giving way before the advancing intelligence of the 
age.* The establishment of agricultural professorships in some 
of our colleges, the reports from one of the Bureaus at Wash- 
ington, the organization of fairs, and the publication of news- 
papers and periodicals, exclusively devoted to the subject, are 
beginning to place agriculture rather in advance of any other 
pursuit or profession. Wherever in the United States it has 
made its greatest progress, there the relative rank of the planter 
and farmer, in the social circle, has been the most completely 
restored. He no longer stands back in conscious inferiority to 
the lawyer and physician. As well educated as they ; as learned 
in his profession as they are in theirs ; remunerated by as large 
profits, and devoting those profits to liospitalities as elegant and 
rational, he knows and feels that he is pursuing a calling which 
may well challenge a comparison Avith any other. In confirm 
raation of this just claim of equality, he sees all other profes- 
sions and pursuits beginning to pay homage to the one which he 
has selected. How many of the learned professions are found, 
of late years, engaged in the same bold, vigorous and healthful 
pursuit ? How many opulent merchants and manufacturers are 
retiring in the evening of their days, and engaging in agricul- 



ture ? Even the statesman, and the warrior paj the same hom- 
age to this noble calling. Mr. Webster, in the midst of his highest 
fame, still looked to his favorite Marshfield, and cherished the 
hope that he might spend the last years of his life in the culti- 
vation of his fields, and in looking after his herds and his flocks. 
Mr. Clay clung to the same hope, as to the rich fields, and the 
verdant lawns of Ashland. Gen. Jackson sighed when he left 
the precincts of the Hermitage, and exchanged the cultivation 
of his farm for the executive sway of a mighty empire. 

Of all the professions, learned or unlearned, it is best calcu- 
lated to inspire deep and undying sentiments of patriotism. 
Standing on his own soil, personally identified with it as his own, 
the farmer is ever ready to protect and defend it. It may have 
descended to him from ancestors, whose memory he reveres — 
the dwelling may have been built or the orchard planted by a 
father's hand. Here is the green lawn on which he played, the 
spring, the brook, the grove, the church, all consecrating his 
home, and inspiring him with attachments which can cease only 
with his life. Wherever business or other necessity of life, may 
•oompel him to roam, 

"He still has hope, his long sojournings past, 
Safe to return and die at home at last." 

We speak not of him who, inheriting from his ancestors his 
broad acres and his many servants, commits them all to the 
superintendence of a selfish and ignorant agency, and betakes 
himself to the crowded city, to pursue a life of indolence and 
pleasure, far removed from the invigorating and manly pursuits 
which we are now commending. We speak rather of him who 
resides on liis farm, or near to it, and directs in person its scien- 
tific cultivation ; of him Avho knows personally that his servants 
are well fed, v/cll clothed, well housed, and well protected against 
unmerited punishment, inflicted by cruel and capricious subordi- 
nates. This is the farmer and planter who is worthy of the 
name. Such an one soon finds every thing prospering under 
his enlightened and humane supervision. From ruder construc- 
tions and more humble preparation he advances in his improve- 
ments, until the convenieLt and costly edifice, the wide-spread- 
ing and verdant lawn, the waving field and the abun.dant harvest, 
2 



give tinerring evidence that, in the selection of liis parsait, he 
^as both wise and fortunate. • 

Connected with agriculture, there are two other pursuits of 
increasing importance, which claim a large portion of the edu- 
cated talent of the United States. Geology and mineralogy in 
the last few years have taken rank in dignity and usefulness 
with any other science. Those who engage in them are contin- 
ually startled by the discovery of new facta in the world's history, 
which inspire them with the most sublime emotions. Whilst 
charmed by a brilliant succession of discoveries, they are richly 
rewarded by their practical usefulness in developing the rich 
mines of gold, silver, copper, iron and other metals essential to 
the welfare and comfort of the human family. In no age of the 
world, and in no country, was there ever a wider field opened 
for well educated professors in these sciences. Nearly every 
State in the Union, every mining association, and every agricul- 
tural community is invoking their presence and assistance. 
Even here, in your own State, wealth in untold millions lay 
buried in your mountains for more than half a century after it 
became inhabited. Geology at last smote the rock, and the hid- 
den streams of individual and national wealth are gushing and 
pouring out upon you. The employments which these sciences 
afford are destined to be as permanent as they are lucrative and 
important. This vast continent is no where fully populated. 
There are yet mighty regions of it, on which the foot-print of 
the civilized man has never yet been made. These will open;, 
for ages to come, outlets to the hardy pioneer, the geologist and 
mineralogist. 

Nearly the same observations may be submitted to you in 
favor of Civil Engineering, as one of the comparatively new, 
but now permanent and lucrative employments of the present 
advancing state of society-. In the new and the old States, we 
are destined to feel more and moi-e the necessity of improved 
means of intercommunication. The fiat has gone forth that we 
raust have railroads, canals and unobstructed rivers ; that the 
mountains must be leveled or penetrated ; that the ships of war 
and of commerce must pass through an Isthmus which has sep- 
arated two great oceans from the morning of the creation ; that 



19 

no obstructions must prevent, and no difficulties retard theso 
mighty enterprises. Who can safely and successfully guide \i& 
to these great results but the educated and accomplished engi- 
neer ? Our colleges must furnish him. They must endow pro- 
fessorships and all the appliances proper, to enable him to meet 
the high demands of the age. 

The mechanical and useful arts seem to have found their 
favorite home in the United States. It was here that Franklin 
made those brilliant discoveries in electricity, that placed him in 
the first rank of the philosophers of the age. It was here that 
Morse gathered the laurels of immortality in the same science. 
It was here that Fulton invented the steamboat, and Whitney 
the cotton gin. It is here, too, that Ericson has introduced his 
caloric engine, which seems destined in the opinion of many to 
supercede every other motive power heretofore known to science. 
Besides these great and capital discoveries, the mechanics of our 
country are daily making the most valuable improvements upon 
the old ones, and thus are placing themselves among the greatest 
benefactors of mankind; yet for them no colleges nor institutes 
have been erected ; no libraries have been founded ; no profess- 
orships have been endoAved, and no degrees conferred upon them, 
as the incentives of industry and the rewards of merit. 

Although the real masters of arts, the title is never bestowed 
upon them. Although truly and profoundly learned in sciences 
the most practical and useful, yet who ever heard of the title of 
"Learned Doctor in Mechanics," or that of "Learned Doctor 
in Agriculture !" The Lawyer Avho may have made a few pro- 
found and able arguments at the bar : the Physician who suc- 
cessfully performs a rare and difficult operation in surgery: the 
Clergyman who delivers orthodox and eloquent sermons to his 
congregation, all find the honors of literature showered thickly 
upon them. Why withhold them from the mechanic whose 
enterprise and learning in his peculiar science, gave existence 
to the printing press, justly denominated "the great engine of 
modern civilization and refinement ?" Shall the Geologist, also, 
have no honors, who opens to us the sublime mysteries of the 
planet which we inhabit, and brings forth the rich treasures 
which lie concealed in its bosom? Shall no diplomas likewise 



20 

reward the sturdy toil and labor of tlie agriculturist ? He is 
pursuing the most ancient and honorable profession ever followed 
hj man. It was Adam's profession. It was that of Cincinna- 
tus. It was Washington's profession, and yet even these could 
not ennoble it. Nothing indeed seems able to rescue all these 
pursuits, which we have just mentioned, from a supposed inferi- 
ority to what have been usually called " the learned professions," 
upon which alone our collegiate and literary honors are bestowed. 
Manufacturers occupy too conspicuous a place among the 
industrial employments of the United States, to be overlooked 
in an address like this. Heretofore they have flourished chiefly 
and almost exclusively in the Northern portions of the Repub- 
lic. A great change, however, has been taking place in this 
respect, and the efi'ort now making to introduce them into the 
South, would seem to challenge our most earnest attention. 
Looking at the natural advantages and the circumstances favor- 
ing their introduction, we cannot withhold the opinion, that the 
South is eminently suited to the introduction of nearly every 
branch of this sort of industry. We have the greatest variety 
and excellence of natural product, animal, vegetable, and mineral. 
We have unsui passed water-power for propelling machinery. Our 
rivers, canals, and railroads furnish every facility of intercom- 
munication. The intelligence, enterprise and moral habits of 
our people furnish the highest guarantees of our ultim.ate and 
final success. But whilst eminently suited to all, the South is 
mainly directing her efforts to the manufacturing of her own 
peculiar staple. If she shall be true to her interest, she will 
never give over her exertions until she shall abstract one-fourth 
or even one-third of her liborers engaged in the production of 
the raw material and employ them in manufacturing it. Every 
stream should be made tributary to her purposes. Every eligible 
site on her navigble rivers and on her railroads should be occu- 
pied. Her capitalists, but chiefly her planters, should be appealed 
to earnestly to engage in the work. The latter can build the 
houses necessary with their own hands. Two or three, or half 
a dozen living contiguously can unite in one establishment. 
They can select from their own stock of slaves, the most active 
and intelligent ones, for operatives, without the necessary 



21 

advances in money to other laborers. The cost of machinery, 
and the expense of one or two skillful superintendants and 
instructors, will be nearly the actual outlay of capital for the 
business. Under such a system as this, the planter can realize 
the profits not only of production, but those of manufacturing. 
Besides this, the abstraction of so much labor from the produc- 
tion, would give an elevation and steadiness of price to the raw 
material, which would better justify its cultivation. 

Here is a wide and noble field opened to the cultivated talent 
of the young men of the South, which they should be proud to 
explore. We hold it to be a libel on our own counti-yraen to say 
that they have not the requisite talent and enterprise to enable 
thera to succeed, and that they must continue to depend on 
others, on this or the other side of the ocean. 

From her industrial employments, let us now turn to contem- 
plate the progress of our country in those professional pursuits, 
into which your preparations here, are no doubt mainly intended 
to introduce you. Foremost among these, and indeed the only 
one we shall consider, stands the Profession of the Law.* Fore- 
most, because of the deep and lasting impress it has made oa 
all of our American institutions. In the discussion of those 
great questions, which resulted in the declaration of Independ- 
ence. In the old Congress that formed the Constitution and in 
the State Legislatures that ratified it, the men of this profession 
surpassed all others in the extent and variety of their learning, 
and in that bold and thrilling eloquence which the occasion 
demanded. It has furnished every President of the United 
States except two. It has furnished a majority of every Cabi- 
net and a long list of eminent attorneys-general. It has had 
entire possession of course of the Judicial department, both 
State and Federal. In the Halls of Congress and in the Leg- 
islatures of the respective States, its power and influence has 
been scarcely less signal. It would be difficult to specify a sin- 
gle great problem in legislation, which did not owe its final 
solution to the talents and eloquence of men distinguished in 
this profession. Ofi'ering to her votaries honors so high and daz- 

* Quotations are freely made on this subject from an address lately deliv- 
ered ty the law class of the Oumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee, 



y;ling, no wonder they sliould throng and crowd her portals for 
admission. 

But they will enter in vain, in the present advanced and 
teiproved condition of our country, unless they bring with them 
the fixed and unalterable determination to make themselves 
emphatically and truly profound and able Lawyers. The times 
have gone by, for merely skimming over the profession, com- 
prehending a few only of its general principles, and acquiring 
pome slight familiarity with its details in practice. No. He 
must dive into its hidden depths, penetrate its secret arcana, 
and bring up the pure and sparkling waters from the very bot- 
tom of the well of knowledge. He who undertakes to master 
this first and noblest of human sciences, should also fully com- 
prehend the magnitude of the work. It embraces Law in its 
widest and most comprehensive sense. The Laws of God — of 
nature — of nations — of independent States: under the latter — 
the common law — the statute law — the constitutional law — the 
commercial law — the law of real estates — of descents. In fine it 
embracesall law, human and divine, and challenges the profound 
study of years to comprehend and expound them. But even these 
are not all the studies of the Lawyer. There are others collat- 
eral and incidental which must by no means be neglected. He 
must make himself well acquainted with history, both ancient 
and modern. Especially should an American Lawyer be familiar 
with the history of his own country, with our revolutionary his- 
tory, with the discussion and events which led to the first confed- 
eration of the colonies, with the debates on the formation of the 
Federal constitution and its subsequent adoption by the States, 
and the debates in Congress, on leading topics, since that period. 
All these illustrate the true nature of our government and shed 
a light on its laws and institutions which the lawyer who deserves 
the name must fully comprehend. 

Vast as this amount of hard and severe study may seem to 
be, still more remains to him who would shine with the steady 
brilliancy of the truly great Lawyer. He will have spent many 
years almost in vain if he shall have neglected the art of speak- 
mg. To be the finished Orator at the bar, in the pulpit, the 
Sen-ate chamber, or the lecture room, he must be master of losr'xa 



23 

and rhetoric. These arc auxiliary to trne eloqnencej and when 
combined with it, have exalted man above all other attainmentsj 
and achievements in life. This etherial, this almost God-liko 
faculty is especially necessary in criminal cases. In capital 
ones, the responsibility is immense. That vital spark which God 
has given is committed to the hands of the advocate, to preserve 
it alive or to extinguish it forever. One argument omitted, it is 
lost ! one bold, fervid and eloquent appeal, and it is saved ! lie 
who sways the sceptre of an Empire or wears the sword of a 
conqueror, enjoys no prouder triumph than he who overcomes 
the unconscious prejudices of both Judge and jury, and by the 
magic power of his eloquence snatches his client from the very 
jaws of perjury and the grave. 

If it be asked what lifetime will be long enough, and what 
constitution of body will be strong enough, to acquire this vast 
fund of knowledge, we can only point to the numerous instances 
of eminent Lawyers and Judges who have attained to the high 
standard which we have here erected. It is however undeniable 
that many have fallen and perished on the way side. Whilst 
with one hand they were sowing the ricli seeds of knowledge, 
with the other they were scattering those of disease and death. 
Physically unable to go through so many years of hard prelim- 
inary study or to sustain the Herculean labor of a large and 
lucrative practice, or to preside through long and perplexing 
terras in the administration of justice, they have been too fre- 
quently summoned, in the very mid-way of life, to a premature 
grave. 

I congratulate the age and the profession upon the dawn of a 
most auspicious change in the arduous toils of preliminary 
preparation and of the subsequent practice of the law. 

The great reforms now everywhere beginning to be called for, 
will go far to remedy the physical inability which has cut short 
t^ie career of some of the master spirits who have adorned the 
profession. 

The present state of jurisprudence, in most of the States of 
the I/nion, has long been the subject of the most serious com- 
plaints. The arbitrary division of rights into legal and equitable, 
and the establishment of separate structures, to maintain and 



24 

perpetuate these idle and injurious distinctions — the investiga- 
tion of one division of rights by oral testimony in one court, 
and another division in another court by depositions — the ina- 
bility of another court to complete justice in many cases, without 
the aid of the organization and process of the other — the con- 
stant mistakes as to the proper court in which relief is to be 
asked, arising from the unsettled and changing boundaries of 
their jurisdictions — the impossibility of determining the proper 
jurisdiction in many cases until the proof shall have been heard — 
the double set of costs accruing, and the double delay incurred — 
the frequent taxation of costs on the party entitled to a recovery, 
and who does in fact ultimately recover — all unite to keep alive 
a spirit of discontent in the popular mind. Plain men go into 
the courts and there hear almost endless discussions upon ques- 
tions which they regard as utterly frivolous. They see their 
own and the public time consumed in settling questions about 
amendments, pleading, jurisdiction, &c., and the causes taken 
up and reversed against the justice of the case, upon some point 
whose force they cannot see when settled. They understand not 
much of this technical routine, but they see plainly that the result 
is disastrous to a cheap and speedy administration of justice. 

This state of popular feeling has existed in different ages, 
and wherever these systems of common law and equity proceed- 
ings have been in existence. It results necessarily and inevita- 
bly in as great a delay and cost as any system which the wit of 
man could easily devise. If it were made on purpose to spin 
out every judicial controversy to the greatest possible length, it 
is not easy to see how it could be made more fully to accomplish 
that object. Every lavryer knows that the two systems had 
their origin in accidental and fortuitous circumstances many 
centuries ago — that it sprang out of an attempt to correct the 
crudities and absurdities of the common law courts. The pro- 
longed controversy between priests and common law lawyers 
built up two structures, which have now grown to be stupendous 
fabrics, which if venerable for their age, are not wholly exempt 
from much of folly and absurdity. The great English Poet, 
living under operation of this system, makes Hamlet repeat 
what was but the echo of public sentiment even in his day : 



25 

'■' The oppressor's vrrong, the proud man's contumely; 
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, 
The insolence of office, and the spurns 
That patient merit of the unworthj- takes." 

Tlie noLle Dane seems to have tliought tliat the law's delay 
v.as one of the "whips and scorns of time" -which could only 
be escaped by taking refuge in the grave. Whilst Hamlet spoke 
thus on the English stage, Lord Coke, that dry and hard old 
lawyer, w^ as giving utterance to the following sentiments : 
'• When I consider the course of our books and terms, I observe 
that more jangling and questions grow up on the matter of 
pleading and exceptions than on the matter itself, and that infi- 
nite causes are lost and delayed thereby/' We suppose my 
Lord Coke to have long since departed this life, but certain it is 
that the evil which he discovered, is yet alive in confirmed health 
and vigor. Wrangling about pleadings more than about the 
matter or merits themselves ! Infinite causes lost or delayed by 
it ! And yet we are told that any attempt to overthrow this 
system must result in confusion. Confusion ! to make a state- 
ment of the facts in pleading, in plain, concise and intelligible 
language, instead of the obsolete law language in which the par- 
tics are required now to speak, under the penalty of costs and 
delay, if not expulsion from the court ! This cry of confusion 
was raised against the one hundred lawyers, headed by Chan- 
cellor Brougham, who commenced this great reform in England. 
It was raised against those who commenced it in New York. 
"To rest as we are," said Judge Curtis, now of the Supreme 
Court of the United States — " to rest as we are, is to continue 
to impose on the people a burden of delays, expense and vexa- 
tions, which in our judgment necessarily grows out of the pres- 
ent state of things." The Legislature of Massachusetts, in 
1851, abolished all the distinctions of actions, retaining only 
that between contracts and wrongs, and in 1853 passed a bill 
of five sections applying equitable remedies to suits at law. The 
last of this mutilated system was swept by this statute to the 
receptacle "of things lost upon earth." 

If these suggestions, borrowed chiefly from an eminent jurist 
(Judge Humphreys,) who is heading the n^ovement in favor of 



26 

law reform in my own State, be too thorough and radical, still 
much can he done, and should be done, to rid this noble profes- 
sion of its antiquated forms, and to bring it within the compass 
of an ordinary constitution to encounter its labors. 

There is but one other pursuit, or profession, which the brevity 
proper for such an address as this will allow us to mention. It 
is the science, or profession, of legislation and statesmanship. 
It embraces within its ample folds not only those who are 
engaged in political affairs, but in fact the whole American peo- 
ple. According to the theory as well as the practice of our 
government, its highest offices may be filled by the most humble 
and obscure individual. Every man may therefore be considered, 
in the language common to most other countries, as "heir appa- 
rent to the throne," He may at any time be "raised to the 
peerage," and by the voice of his fellow-citizens, not less potent 
than the royal patent, take his seat in that House of Lords, the 
American Senate. He maybe elected to the House of Kepre- 
sentatives in Congress, or become the Governor of one of the 
States or a member of its Legislature. The vast number annu- 
ally elected and re-elected to those high and responsible offices, 
constitute no inconsiderable portion of the people of the L^nited 
States, and exert a most powerful influence over their affairs. It 
is more than probable that a large majority of the young gen- 
tlemen who novv' surround me, are hereafter to engage in this 
profession, and are to become the future legislators and states- 
men of the land. Would that I could repay them for the honor 
conferred upon me on the present occasion, by delineating the 
character of a truly great statesman — portraying that lofty 
sense of true honor — that unceasing attachment to the interest 
and cause of the people — that never dying devotion to piety, 
virtue and patriotism, which should distinguish his every action 1 

But time will not allow me to enter on a theme so inviting and 
brilliant. "Whether you engage in this or any other of the 
employments and professions which we have enumerated, you 
should never permit the gloomy shadows of despondence to pass 
over your firm and fixed resolves. To doubt, is to fail — to reselve 
boldly is to be saccessful. Nor must you be content with mere 
mediocrity of attainment. By you who enjoy the advantages 



27 

of such an institution as this, the very word mediocrity should 
be scorned ! In this age, you must not, you dare not fall below 
the highest standards. It is the age of progress — of improve- 
mcnt in every science, in every art, in every profession. It is 
that very progress which is making your University the pride 
and boast of the South, and drawing to it annually, as you wit- 
ness this day, the most eminent scholars and jurists of the State. 
And now, gentlemen, I have submitted to you all that my 
leisure enabled me to prepare and all indeed, that the occasion 
seems to require. I retire from this consecrated scene of early 
life, breathing the humble prayer, that Earth may have no hap- 
piness and HesLven no blessings which may not be bestowed upon 
yoa and on this large assembly, who have honored us by their 
presence. 



I Au^-4ji_8^ 



